Exploring Korea's Art and Seoul

The Korean capital’s embassy-lined Hannam neighborhood has always thrown off an international vibe. Now, with a new music performance space and an influx of food and shopping hot spots, it’s emerging as an epicenter for Korea’s zeitgeist.

Shop like a local

The Hyundai Card Music Library houses 10,000 vinyl records from the ’50s on, including limited-edition Rolling Stones albums and the Beatles’ 1966 Yesterday and Today, whose graphic original cover was recalled by Capitol Records after public outcry. Catch a Korean indie band in the Understage space.

Yurt Studio, run by a husband-and-wife design team, crafts limited-edition leather shoes and bags, including its signature pastry-shaped clutch, the Croissant Bag.

Eat & Drink

The 40-seat bar Wolh­yang pours small-batch makgeolli, a traditional rice liquor available in fruity flavors. Containing live cultures, the milky malt lasts just a week or two, so you can only sample it while here.

In a mint green–tiled space resembling a bathhouse, the busy ovens at On Ne Sait Jamais turn out Han River meets Left Bank sweets like macaron cake. And Itaewon-ro, Hannam’s liveliest shopping drag, is right nearby.

Channel your inner critic

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, helped to launch Hannam’s renewal when it opened more than a decade ago; it remains the city’s preeminent contemporary-art stop, with Warhols and Rothkos, plus homegrown talent like sculptor Do Ho Suh.